The old-new Elizabethan Garden at Kenilworth

Some people love Elizabethan gardens, and others like the wild ruins of Kenilworth Castle.

In the 13th century, Kenilworth was the castle where the bachelor knights supporting Parliament made their last stand against Henry III and his son Prince Edward.

In the 16th century Queen Elizabeth gave the castle to her favourite, Robert Dudley. He created a sumptuous residential block and a private garden which he thought would please her when she visited. Alas, she stayed for nineteen days. The expense of entertaining her and all her court almost bankrupted him.

However, the festivities are said to have been the inspiration for Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, so that's alright.

The garden was closed to all but the Queen and her closest companions, but one day while the Queen was out hunting, Adrian the gardener allowed one Robert Langham inside.

Although he cannot have visited the garden for more than a few hours, Langham left an extremely detailed description of its features. The accuracy of his account is borne out by archaeological evidence, which confirms that an eight-sided fountain once stood at the centre of the garden, just as he claims.

English Heritage, which previously restored the castle gatehouse, has now re-created the garden based on Langham's private letters. Visitors will see an aviary, "water jokes", arbours, fruit trees and an 18-foot-tall, 8-sided fountain.

Allegedly unwritten, but called "the most stupendous fabric of human invention" in the world, and extremely important to your well-being, no matter where you dwell.

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The people of Britain and the Anglosphere defied a world of cruelty and superstition to create life-changing gifts. This is your inheritance. Glorious. Hardcover, 140 pages, 125 colour illustrations.

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DAVID ABBOTT MD, MRCP

I have practiced medicine in England, America and Canada for the last four decades. I believe in the principles of Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights. I am a father, grandfather, bell ringer, environmental campaigner and marathoner.

Brits at their Best produced thousands of indispensable inventions, developed wildly popular sports, designed romantic houses and gardens, created astonishing literary masterpieces, lived with style and humour, tackled dangerous missions with daring and ingenuity, and fought with indomitable courage to establish and protect the free world.

We describe their superb achievements and extraordinary lives.

CATHERINE (CAT) GLASS

I saw tyranny firsthand in Eastern Europe. (My background is English, Irish, and Czech.) I received my degree in Classical Greek from Columbia University, New York, worked in publishing in the United States for twenty years, and helped the homeless for seven years.